Our Vision, Our Mission, An Overview

Our Vision and Mission

GSPM uses all the resources of the Faculty of Political Science and Economics to help students acquire both a wide range of specialized academic knowledge and specialized practical knowledge. We accepts various students who wish to embark on careers in solving problems in the public sector and provide them with an interdisciplinary and broad range of knowledge such as politics, economics, law, information and journalism, and a professional knowledge through education by faculty members with a wide range of experience in the public sector. The education emphasizing the attainment of “sustainability and a balance between equity and effectiveness” – the primal viewpoint of public management – develops the ability to formulate and evaluate well-balanced and concrete policies and skills. We aim to produce highly specialized professionals with an interdisciplinary point of view that enables them to exercise effective judgment and endows them with the ability to formulate the concepts and ideas that are needed to understand and solve real-world problems in highly complex societies and economies. Although it goes without saying that the abilities described above are a requirement of any profession, we have developed curriculum, a research supervision system, and a carrier-support system from the perspective our students will enter professions such as the civil service, politics,policy advice, NPO and NGO representation, think tank research and consultancy.

Three Policies of the GSPM

Diploma Policy

We have developed a comprehensive educational program that endows future leaders with insight into and a sense of responsibility for issues surrounding the public interest and the ability to judge and manage policy that enables them to perform outstanding global management in today’s global society. Our graduates are highly specialized professionals with an international perspective and strong humanist values. Students who earn enough program course and seminar credits and who submit a research paper satisfying certain criteria are awarded a “Master of Public Management.” Students who already have a master’s degree and seek further specialized education can pursue a “Doctor of PoliticalScience” in the Graduate School of Political Science, mainly in the field of public policy research.

Curriculum Policy

The breadth and creativity of Waseda University’s Faculty of Political Science and Economics enables us to provide a systematic curriculum and an environment that promotes the interchange of a wide range of knowledge, cultures, languages, and values. Specifically, we aim to cultivate highly specialized abilities that enable our students to both formulate sustainable policies and explore the “balance between equity and effectiveness”in public management. To achieve this, we have established four course groups: basic courses, core courses, advanced courses, and practicum courses. Basic courses teach the fundamental research and reasoning methods common to all the social sciences and research paper writing techniques. Core and advanced courses develop the specialized knowledge and practical research ability critical to effective public management. These course groups are not merely a lineup of introductory courses: they include a wide-range of courses systematically and progressively taught by the academic staff of the Graduate School of Political Science against a backdrop of political science theory, including economics. Curriculum organized in this way is one of the distinguishing characteristics of the Graduate School of Public Management. Practicum courses focus on on-site learning as a way to equip students with specialized knowledge and ability. These courses teach the management abilities needed to formulate, implement, and evaluate policies through internships and fieldwork that take into account the day-to-day duties of civil servants, politicians, policy assistants, NPOs and NGOs, think tanks, consulting firms, and so on. Furthermore, in addition to a conventional two-year course, a one-year course is offered to accommodate working professionals who want a recurrent education. Those with sufficient work experience (at least three years before enrollment) can complete the degree through a one-year course of intensive learning of specialized knowledge performed within a suitable study environment.

Admissions Policy

In the spirit of academic independence that forms the foundation of the educational philosophy of Waseda University, we seek and welcome applicants from all over Japan and abroad who meet certain basic academic requirements, are intellectually curious and highly motivated, and possess a progressive spirit. The Graduate School of Public Management places particular emphasis on providing high-level professional training to working professionals as well as to recent and past student with undergraduate degrees. Admissions take place 3 times a year (2 times for April Enrollment and 1 time for September Enrollment). The selection process is carried out through a first-stage screening consisting of a written examination and evaluation of submitted documents and a second-stage screening based on an oral examination. The selection process emphasizes compatibility between the research plan submitted by the applicant and the curriculum provided by the Graduate School of Public Management. The selection processes for the one-year and two-year courses are separate.

In April of 2003, Waseda University’s Okuma School of Public Management was established as the nation’s first public policy type professional graduate school. The Graduate School took on a trail-blazing role in the practical education and research of new policies that were being undertaken in our country, and began to turn out talented persons to work in the field. Also, we have accumulated a vast amount of knowhow made up to this point in the public management and public policy realms from the educational and research achievements, the hands-on practical extracurricular activities, the cooperation between industry, academia and government, and the papers that have been written by our graduates.

Examining both the achievements made thus far, as well as our continued training and graduation of persons that contribute to the public, we’ve reconfirmed the need for students to acquire broad, interdisciplinary specialized knowledge in not only political science, but also economics, law, information and journalism, natural sciences and the like. So, in 2011, eight years later since its foundation, we enacted measures so that these could be learned in a systematic and ordered way, and starting in 2012, the Okuma School of Public Management was merged with the School of Political Science and was reborn as the “Graduate School of Public Management”. Waseda University’s Graduate School of Public Management responds to the demands of the times to train true leaders to support the next generation.

Our Strength

We offer a professional degree program that emphasizes practical application as well as theoretical research performed at the Faculty of Political Science and Economics. Students acquire a theoretical foundation through systematic curriculum offered in cooperation with the Graduate School of Political Science and the Graduate School of Economics. Students also acquire highly specialized professional abilities from members of the faculty with exceptional practical experience who teach with academic expertise in the field of Public Management. By offering a high-level and practical education that connect between theory and practice, our program meets the needs of modern society for the training and education of highly specialized professionals in a wide range of fields.

Research Supervision

Upon enrollment, GSPM assigns a main supervisor and a sub-supervisor to each student according to the student’s research theme and carrier vision. The supervisors provide students with guidance on study, research, and other aspects of academic life. As a rule, each student is assigned a faculty member with professional experience and a faculty member with academic expertise as either the main or sub-supervisor. This system enables students to receive guidance provided from both a theoretical and practical point of view. They may be changed each semester.

Course Work

There is a wide range of issues in the public management sector and modern society. In order to solve them, organizations as well as individuals who are active in the public sector need both practical and natural science. To teach interdisciplinary and practical knowledge effectively, GSPM has established four groups of courses: basic courses, core courses, advanced courses, and practicum courses. In addition, students can receive research supervision, which suits their respective theme. Research supervision enables students apply to the knowledge and ability acquired in these courses to writing a research paper.

Basic Courses

Basic courses, which include required courses in basic analytical methods, teach research and reasoning methods common to all social sciences and research paper writing techniques. By dealing with analytical techniques and evaluation methods and the fundamental theories and policies of the field of public policy, required courses build the foundation needed to deal effectively with various social issues.

Core Courses

Core courses develop the specialized knowledge and practical research ability that are critical for effective public management. Core courses are classified into three areas:“National/Local Government and Administration,” “Politics and International Affairs,” and “Public Policy.” Students are free to take courses in any of these areas in accordance with their particular research topic.

Course Examples: Public Organization, Local Government, International Relations, Comparative Politics, Public Policy, Public Economics

Advanced Courses

Advanced Courses utilize the foundation provided by core courses and are designed to endow students with the abilities they need to explore their respective research topics. Like core courses, advanced courses are classified into three areas, from which students are free to choose.Course Examples: Science of Development Administration, Special Lectures on Japanese Government Administration, Lecture on International Relations, The Theory of Politics, Medical Economics, Topics in Public Policy

Practicum Courses

Designed to develop specialized knowledge and abilities, practicum courses focus on practical application. Through internships and field work that take into account the day-to-day work of civil servants, politicians, policy assistants, NPOs and NGOs, think tanks,consulting firms, these courses sharpen the management abilities needed to formulate,apply, and evaluate policy.Course Examples: Internship (Diet/Waseda Tomonkai), Internship (Self-Government). Field Studies (Chiikisousei), Field Studies (Regional Independence), Case Studies (Programing Management), Policy Study (Science and Technology Policy)

Seminars

Seminars are designed to train students in how to formulate policy that is both theoretically sound and well grounded in reality. Seminars help students acquire this training by guiding them in the writing of a research paper. Students are required to take their main supervisor’s seminar and are encouraged to take their sub-supervisor’s seminar as well. Seminar Examples: Regional Policy Seminar, Public Accounting Seminar, Personnel Administration Seminar, Policy Evaluation Practice Seminar, Process of Decision-Making Seminar, Public Economics Seminar

Research Paper

A student attends research paper interim report sessions, energetically competes with other students, and applies the knowledge and skills gained in GSPM to writing a research paper. A student’s paper is refereed by 3 faculty members including his or her main and sub-supervisors.